The Curse of Kooky
by Just Some NJ Writer
Summary: Rated T because I'm not sure if what's in here is safe for K . Ludwig von Koopa was Iggy Koopa's idol, but one day that changes. Iggy is then driven to do something that could quite possible change him forever, and Ludwig is the key to such a change. The thing is, Ludwig doesn't realize it until Iggy's plan is put into effect, and it will have long lasting consequences.


The Curse of Kooky

It was a decent day in Dark Land, if a place could ever have such a thing. After a particularly crushing defeat at the hands of the Mario brothers, the Koopa royal family were in their castle, trying to forget the humiliation. Ludwig von Koopa was in his room, whiling his day away doing his favorite hobby: writing symphonies. With all the stress on him, between his now seven younger siblings being annoying with the recent birth of Bowser Jr., chores, and being defeated time and time again by the Mario Brothers, his room became his sanctuary, and his old pipe organ the key to his happiness. A way to get out of life's troubles. A way to soothe his soul. He was just about to play what he wrote on his organ, when he heard a knock on his door. He quietly growled.

"How many times must I tell them not to interrupt me when I'm working?" he thought to himself. Reluctantly, he opened the door. It was Iggy, the fourth oldest of his family. "What is it, Ignatius?" he said.

"Hi, Ludwig! I just wanted to show you my new invention, and get your personal opinion on it!" he said cheerfully. Ludwig was Iggy's idol. As the smartest Koopaling, Ludwig had star-stricken Iggy with his knowledge in every subject, especially science. Iggy took it upon himself to become an inventor, just like his older brother. Even at the age of eight, Iggy had created mechanisms of outstanding quality. He put the device, a radio, on the table.

"It is a radio, Iggy. It has already been invented."

"It may _look_ like a radio, but what it really is is…" he pressed a button on a remote, "the perfect spying device!" Instantly, a camera popped out of the speaker, with a microphone coming out of the antenna. "What do you think?"

"It looks great! Let me-" Ludwig suddenly felt…odd. His vision started to blur, and suddenly everything he heard was distorted. He blacked out on his bed.

"Ludwig! Are you alright?" A concerned Iggy asked. Ludwig opened his eyes.

"Yes. Vhy vouldn't I be? Let me see zis hunk of junk."

"Junk? Y-you said it was great!" Iggy said, tears starting to form in his eyes. Ludwig seemed to ignore him.

"Oh, look at zis! Ze camera can clearly be seen under ze speaker! And zis microphone, it is so veak! It vill never pick up any conversations over ze radio blasting music!"

"I can fix it!" Iggy said.

"No. Your design his too simple, too _childish_. A person of _my_ intellect should be creating somezing like zis. First, I must learn of its inner vorkings…" He picked up the radio.

"What are you doing!?" Iggy said. Ludwig smashed the radio on the floor, breaking it into several pieces. "I-I spent an entire week working on that!" Iggy said, tears streaming down his face.

"Time is petty. I could create somezing _much_ better in half zat time!" Iggy was bawling at this point.

"You always do this! First, you black out, then you scrutinize my creations, then you leave me feeling inferior!"

"Glad I could help you realize your role." Ludwig said. Iggy stood there. He never felt more hurt in his life Ludwig, his older brother, his idol, told him he was nothing compared to him, and never will be.

"I-I'm not inferior! I-I-I'm just as g-good of an i-inventor as you are!"

"You keep telling yourself zat."

"I'll show you! I'll show you that I'm better than you! Y-you'll see!" He ran out the door, tears flowing from his cheeks. Ludwig violently shook his head, as if waking up.

"Iggy? Where are you?" he said. He began to walk but stepped on something. "What happened to your invention?"

"Who needs him? I'm ze smartest in zis family. He's just trying to follow in my glory." He heard a voice say. He looked around for a few moments, but then realized that it was he who said it. What was going on? He never thought like that. Did he? He began thinking back through the past year. He recalled blacking out at random moments, then waking up in completely different locations, usually with a mechanism close by, and the time of day being completely different. He certainly didn't make those mechanisms, so he always assumed Iggy had brought him something, but now he was starting to think otherwise. Now that he thought about it more, these blackouts were happening more and more frequently.

"What's wrong with me?" He said aloud, scared. He decided to visit the expert on these types of things, Kamek. He left his room, and went to the caretaker's office.

"Prince Ludwig, it is a pleasure to see you. How may I be of service?" Kamek said, bowing.

"I have been blacking out a lot recently. I then find myself waking up in a completely different place, usually with some form of a mechanism near me." Kamek examined him, adjusting his glasses.

"This sounds serious. Do you remember experiencing dreams?" He asked.

"No."

"Have you been getting enough sleep?"

"Yes."

"Hm…I have a hunch. I hope I'm wrong, but I must run some tests on you Ludwig."

"Do anything. Just give me answers." And so Kamek performed numerous tests on Ludwig, from brain scans to MRIs to simple psychology tests. It had been what Kamek feared. It wasn't the worst outcome, that would have been brain cancer, but this was still bad. He went into his quarters and called Ludwig's parents', Bowser and Clawdia's, room. It was Bowser who answered.

"What is it, Kamek? Jr.'s throwing a tantrum and Clawdia and I are trying to calm him down." Ludwig could hear his father gruffly say over the phone that had receivers in every room of the castle.

"My lord, come to my office. Bring Clawdia. I shall send a toady to take care of Jr."

"Why?"

"I'll explain when you get there." After about fifteen minutes passed, Bowser and Clawdia came into Kamek's office. Bowser is the King of Dark Land and the father of Ludwig and his seven siblings. He's tall and round, but that roundness is all muscle. Clawdia is Bowser's wife and likewise Ludwig's mother. She is shorter than Bowser and not as strong, and thinner as well. She has flowing blue hair, the same shade as Ludwig's, and her eyes are a dazzling shade of icy blue. Bowser always said that she could have been a supermodel if she wanted to. Both, while a little tough on the kids, cared deeply for all eight of them. If there was a single righteous thing Bowser was known for, it was parenting, even if he was far from perfect at it.

"Whatcha need, Kamek?" Bowser asked. He spotted Ludwig. "And what's Ludwig doing here?"

"He is what this is about, your Highnesses. Sit."

"Did he do something wrong?" Clawdia asked.

"No, no. He did nothing."

"Then what is it?" Bowser said in a tone that implied being bored and mildly annoyed. Kamek sighed.

"This will not be easy to tell you, but…Ludwig has Dissociative Identity Disorder."

"Meaning?"

"My lord, your son has a split personality." Bowser sat there in disbelief.

"How…how do you know?"

"I performed several tests, and all signs point to the Dragon Koopa equivalent of DID. The blackouts, no memory of what happened, and the fact that I once hired a magikoopa with the same disorder, though with slightly differing symptoms, proves it." Bowser rubbed his head, thoughts racing through his brain. Clawdia had tears forming. Ludwig sat there, motionless. How had he not seen it? It was obvious. It was right in front of him, yet hidden. He felt like such a fool inside.

"Is there a way to suppress the other personality?" Bowser said, calmly.

"Luckily, there is. I formulated an injection that suppresses the other personality, and it works for every species known to be affected by it. When the split-personalitied magikoopa quit, I kept the extra batches for research purposes. Good thing, too. It takes weeks to make a batch." Bowser and Clawdia breathed a sigh of relief. "He will have to receive one dosage per twenty-four hours. I must warn that Ludwig will become very tired once he takes a dose, and very numb. I suggest he takes it at night, before he goes to sleep.

"Can you tell me something, Kamek?" Clawdia said.

"Of course, my Queen."

"Is there a permanent cure?"

"Er…Not yet, your highness. After the magikoopa quit I halted my notes on the subject. Plans of defeating the Mario Brothers among other scientific fields made me almost forget about our temporary solution. Now I actually have a reason to continue my research."

"Thank you."

"What is my other personality?" Ludwig said. With all this talk of it, Ludwig didn't even know how he acted after he blacked out.

"After the tests, I discovered what happens. You become mentally insane. A mad scientist. A very cruel mad scientist. Extremely brilliant, but unfeeling for others." The wise magikoopa said. Bowser, who was rubbing his temples trying to suppress a headache, stood up, and spoke calmly.

"Okay." He began. "Kamek, get the injection. Ludwig, do what Kamek says and take it at night. Where should he inject?"

"The arm will suffice."

"Good. Now, let's all get back to our duties. I've got some plumber butts to kick!" Bowser said triumphantly. He almost had an obsession with beating the Mario brothers that even after this news he goes back to planning. He exited the room, with Clawdia following. Ludwig exited soon after. But none of them noticed the shadow running behind a suit of armor.

"Kamek says Ludwig becomes extremely brilliant when his other personality hits. With that brilliance, plus my own, I could show Ludwig how scientifically superior I am! That'll show him!" And with that, Iggy ran back to his room, a plan kindling inside his brain.

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Ludwig continued through his day normally, and when he went to sleep he injected the dose into his arm. Immediately he felt drowsy. He couldn't feel his limbs. Kamek had been right, he felt very numb. He drowsily made his way to his bed and fell into a deep slumber. He continued to do this for the next month. On the thirty-second day, he fell asleep like normal, unaware that his door had creaked open. Silently, a figure moved towards him, holding a syringe of his own. This syringe was empty, however. Slowly and carefully, Iggy jabbed the needle into Ludwig's temple and extracted some blood. Ludwig stirred when the syringe broke skin but stayed asleep. He capped the syringe and quickly left, placing a bandage on the area that he had pierced. Ludwig was his brother after all. Why leave him with the possibility of bleeding out, or leave him with an infection?

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Ludwig awoke with a stir. He yawned, stretched, and walked sleepily to the bathroom located conveniently inside his bedroom. He fixed his hair, gelling and combing it into his signature look, but was surprised to see a bandage covering his temple. Curious, he removed it. The covered area seemed to have healed any bleeding that it may have been doing, evidenced by traces of dried blood. He knew for certain that he wasn't bleeding last night though. This must have been recent. Ludwig concluded that Kamek must have taken some blood to look for any side effects of the medicine after a month of continuous use. So, he went to Kamek's office that had recently been changed into a hybrid of an office, study, and bedroom. Bowser was thinking ahead on what to do with Junior once he's old enough to be left alone, so he turned Kamek's already hybrid bedroom/study into Junior's room. When Kamek questioned why Bowser did this, he said it was "in the interest of saving money."

"Prince Ludwig, hello. How is the medicine treating you?" he asked, putting away his copy of "Magikoopa Monthly."

"That's actually why I came here. You took some blood from me last night, correct? To analyze if the medicine is doing something to me other than what it's supposed to."

"My prince, I did no such thing last night."

"Then how did I get this?" Ludwig said, pointing out his temple.

"Good Grambi above, what happened?" Kamek, now worried, exclaimed, immediately jumping up and examining him. "Who would take your blood? You and I are the only ones in this castle with any serious scientific knowledge, unless..." Kamek came to this realization rather quickly. Ludwig did as well. There was one other person in Dark Land with a knack for science. A person that Ludwig must have blown up at before he began taking the injections.

"Iggy." Ludwig barely breathed out. Immediately they both jumped out of their seats and ran to Iggy's room.

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It was finally time. After a month of research, construction, and testing, the goal that Iggy had been striving for was finally within reach. He had just finished analyzing Ludwig's blood, and he poured it into a flask that connected to his glorious creation. He maniacally laughed with glee and a pinch of worry. He fiddled around with the knobs and switches that lined the device before finally sitting down in his invention.

He took a deep breath. The activator lever was directly to his left. Once he pulled it, there was no going back. Iggy was doubtful and worried now that the time had finally come. What if the machine malfunctioned? What if it didn't even start? What if his brain gets severely damaged? What if this very device he created kills him? He casted these thoughts away. No, he thought. He's done being second to Ludwig. No longer will his eldest brother look down on him. No longer will Iggy wallow in self-pity and sadness because of what Ludwig had done to him, whether his brother knew what he was doing or not. He put on the special headgear. It's now or never. He grasped the lever, holding it tightly. This lever would change his life forever. This lever will propel him to greatness, and all he had to do was pull it down.

Which is exactly what he did.

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Ludwig had never ran so hard in his life. He pushed servants, chefs, and anybody else in his way to the side. Kamek was right behind him. Ludwig had almost reached his brother's room, and right before he threw open the door he pushed another one of his brothers, Roy, to the ground. Kamek instinctively stopped to help the fallen Koopa prince, not being able to get into Iggy's room with Ludwig.

Ludwig threw open the doors, and to his horror he saw his brother sitting in some device, his entire body contorting in violent spasms from the electricity coursing through it. Acting fast, Ludwig took out his magic wand given to him by his father and threw several fireballs at the machine, destroying it. Iggy slumped to the ground, motionless.

"I-Iggy?"

"What's going on?" Kamek barged through the door, a look of slight annoyance on his face, which quickly turned to utter horror when he saw the young prince's body.

"H-h-he was sitting in that d-device, and it was electrocuting him. Oh Grambi…oh Grambi…" Ludwig whimpered.

"Check his pulse, Ludwig." Kamek said, trying his best to keep calm. Ludwig obeyed, and placed the side of his head on Iggy's chest, hoping, praying, that Iggy was alive.

There was a heartbeat. Kamek called his toadies to take Iggy to his office.

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It had been several weeks since Ludwig and Kamek discovered Iggy. The young prince was alive, but did not wake. The family had been informed, and they were devastated. Lemmy was the most upset. He stayed by his bedside every day and cried himself to sleep every night. Ludwig had secluded himself from the rest of his family, emerging from his bedroom only to eat, and even then he would only speak to Kamek about Iggy's condition. Finally, one night, Kamek called Ludwig to his office. Iggy woke up. Ludwig ran as fast as he could to his brother's bedside, but just as he was about to enter the room where Iggy laid, Kamek stopped him.

"My lord, there is something you should know before you go inside."

"What is it?"

"Ignatius is very much alive, but…he's different. Whatever that machine did affected his mind. I have diagnosed him as clinically insane. He behaves similar to your…other persona, minus the German accent." Ludwig's other personality (which his siblings dubbed "Kooky von Koopa") was dead. Kamek had been closer to a permanent cure than he thought, and after a single usage, Kooky was dead, and Ludwig was in control. But it seems that Kooky was not dead. He just found another host.

"Can't we give him the cure?" Ludwig questioned.

"No, this isn't DID. It's insanity. There is no cure. He will be like this for the rest of his life."

"May I speak to him?"

"Yes, but choose your words carefully." Kamek opened the door and Ludwig found his brother staring at the wall, motionless, unblinking. When the door shut behind him, the slam caught his attention and he quickly turned his head to see Ludwig. He had an uncanny smile plastered across his face.

"Brother." He said. He sounded different. His voice was the same, but the way in which he spoke sent chills down Ludwig's spine. He sounded like a serial killer.

"Ignatius." Ludwig replied. Iggy cackled like a demon.

"Oh, please! Stop with the formalities! Just call me Iggy. Never call me Ignatius again, understand?"

"I understand, Iggy. How are you feeling?"

"Wonderful! I feel so much smarter than you! My beautiful machine was a success! Now, we'll see just who the smartest in the family is." He barely moved when he spoke, and his smile never left him. His eyes were wide open, like he was analyzing Ludwig as they conversed.

"I'm sure Lemmy will be ecstatic to see you awake."

"Oh yes, Lemmy. I love Lemmy. He was always such a good big brother to me. Unlike a certain other one…" He laughed again.

"Iggy, I never intentionally hurt you. I would never-"

"YOU!? No, no, NO!" Iggy yelled. "You were a mere jerk to me on occasions, Ludwig. I'm talking about the muscle-brained, idiotic brother we call Roy." Ludwig tensed up. "You look alarmed, big brother. Is something wrong?"

"No, but I appreciate your concern." That laugh again.

"You're lying. Something's wrong. I can sense it. We share blood now, I know exactly what you are feeling. You're unnerved about the new me. Understandable, but I assure you I am fine."

"Well…I suppose you are. I'll leave you to rest up."

"Rest? I've been asleep for over a month. Now is the time to work!" He jumped out of bed and ran outside Kamek's office, to his room. Kamek walked in and sat next to Ludwig.

"He's changed so much." Ludwig said.

"I know. The important thing to do now is to just be careful around Ignatius." Ludwig sighed at the sound of this, holding back tears of the brother whose mind he had destroyed.

"He only wants to be called Iggy now."

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 _Six years later_

So much had changed in Ludwig's family. Ludwig, now seventeen, is as normal as he's ever been since he was cured. However, other problems have arisen, particularly partial deafness. After an incident with his organ Ludwig's hearing became permanently damaged, and now he needs a hearing aid.

Clawdia had died three years earlier, and Dark Land as a whole was overcome with grief at the death of their queen. Princess Peach and the Mario brothers even sent their condolences. Bowser Jr. was too young to understand at the time, so Bowser came up with a ruse to protect his youngest son's innocence.

"She's uh…on a vacation. She'll be gone for quite a while, son."

"How long, Daddy?"

"I…I don't know."

If Bowser wasn't hit hardest by her death, then Ludwig certainly was. Why? Because her death was his fault, or at least he believed it to be. It was one of Iggy's machines that killed her. It malfunctioned and exploded in a toxic burst. Bowser and the kids managed to escape, but Clawdia wasn't so lucky. Iggy showed no guilt.

What Iggy had become was vastly different than what he was before. Almost immediately after waking up, he groomed his hair from the rainbow-colored Mohawk that was similar to Lemmy's hair to a more plant like neon green sprout. He isolated himself in his room, where he spent his days tinkering with who knows what. Lemmy and Ludwig seemed to be the only ones that cared about him anymore, and Ludwig felt guilty that he didn't converse with him as often as he wanted, for he too was a loner scientist. But even when he did visit him he was always so…difficult to talk to. He always cackled when somebody said something he found amusing when nobody else would even think to link it to humor. He was either annoyingly specific or uncannily cryptic. His room had been transformed from that of an eight year old's fascination with science to a fourteen year old's dark obsession. He had a pet chain chomp that always snarled at the sight of anyone other than his master. Iggy had stayed true to his word about becoming a better scientist than Ludwig. Anything Ludwig could make, Iggy could make better, with one problem. Everything he made, while more effective and efficient, was highly dangerous and prone to malfunctioning, but Iggy didn't care, even when his own mother lost her life because of it.

Ludwig felt a genuine hate towards himself, or rather Kooky von Koopa. He had ruined his family, and scarred his brother so deeply that he would never come back. Kooky von Koopa was still alive, and it didn't intend on leaving anytime soon. This was a curse, Ludwig concluded. The curse of Kooky.


End file.
